


skyfall

by mysterytwin



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Weathering With You, Fluff, M/M, Magic Realism, Mutual Pining, Slice of Life, Weather
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-10
Updated: 2019-09-10
Packaged: 2020-10-13 19:09:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20587586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mysterytwin/pseuds/mysterytwin
Summary: Hinata Shouyou can control the weather, and Kageyama doesn’t mind getting swept up in his storm.





	skyfall

**Author's Note:**

> HAPPY KAGEHINA DAY!!
> 
> this is (very) loosely based on makoto shinkai's film weathering with you (tenki no ko) because i've always wanted to write a kagehina fic with a bit of magic and this gave me an excuse to finally do it :D

Kageyama meets Hinata Shouyou in the middle of a hurricane. 

He’s standing on the side of a crowded street, people impatiently waiting for delayed train lines and walking along to keep going with their busy lives. The rain beats down heavily above his umbrella, and the canals are beginning to flood beneath his feet. Most of his clothes are already soaked despite the cover, and he’s shivering slightly. Kageyama’s always loved the rain and the way it falls, but right now he just wants to go home. 

It’s been raining for the last two weeks. There hasn’t been any sign of stopping for a while. 

Kageyama checks his watch again. _3:31pm. _The sky is a dark shade of gray, and thunder rumbles across the sky once more, a flash of lightning following suit. He jumps, because he’s never been much of a fan of storms, and holds his umbrella a little tighter. It’s the middle of summer, June 21st, and the whole of Miyagi hasn’t been able to see the sun yet. 

There are too many people around him, shoving and muttering apologies to get past. Kageyama’s thankful for his height, an anchor that keeps him from getting swallowed by the crowd. He doesn’t know what exactly it is, but something from the side catches his attention. 

It’s a boy, with hair the color of the sun and eyes bright and warm. 

He’s standing by the edge of the street, and his eyes close slowly, hands coming together for prayer. He’s only wearing a raincoat to keep him from the rain, so he’s drenched from head to toe, but it doesn’t seem to deter him. He looks like he’s concentrating, face solemn but focused, head tilted upwards towards the sky. He opens his eyes again and—

The rain stops.

The clouds in the sky part, and the sun shines down on where he stands, until it expands and grows, leaving no crevice untouched. The world above them turns a brilliant, bright blue, almost like it had never rained at all. Light fills the streets and sidewalks, the buildings and the homes, an explosion of sudden color. Like a lifted spell, the sun comes out to greet them.

_A sunshine boy, _Kageyama thinks to himself, _with the ability to control the weather. _

The boy breaks out into a smile as he sees his work, incandescent and proud. People look up in awe, muttering questions and giving thanks, unaware of what just transpired. _A sign from the heavens, _some of them say, but some are quick to question if it is a gift or a warning. A natural occurrence, others argue, or maybe an answered prayer. They don’t know of the magic, and they don’t know of the legend. But how could they? There is only so much people are able to understand. And how are they to know of the secret? How would they explain it? Gods don’t leave their shrines, after all.

But Kageyama knows. He knows, and he saw. 

He saw the way the boy asked the sky to do his bidding, how the rainfall was different around him, like tiny fish coming in close to his skin. They danced like ripples defying gravity, and Miyagi’s sky turned blue when he asked it to. The world changed when he asked it to. 

The beginning of summer. The beginning of a secret. 

Kageyama closes his umbrella. When he looks up again, the boy is gone. 

* * *

Hinata Shouyou is not a god. 

He is not a god with a shrine, nor is he a spirit that chooses to walk among mortals, a dreamer amidst the sinners. 

Instead, he is a boy with too much to prove, with stories to tell and stories to make, the bringer of the sun and rain. He is a boy with a gift.

(A boy with a curse.)

Hinata Shouyou is not a god. He is a boy who has only lived for sixteen years, reckless and foolish, loud and impulsive. He never stops talking, clumsy but daring with enough courage to prove it. He is terrible at receives and lacks the proper volleyball form; he can’t serve well or block effectively. But what he lacks in height he makes up for the way he jumps, fast and quick and high—taking flight in the middle of a volleyball court. 

This is what Kageyama learns when he meets Hinata for a second time. Kageyama sees him from across the court, dressed in a green uniform, and he thinks of the way Hinata had asked the sun to come out on that stormy day. He knows it to be true—how else could the rain have stopped?

“Become stronger,” he says, and Hinata is crying in front of him, standing taller with the advantage that the steps give him. The evening sun is slowly disappearing. The sky is getting darker, a deeper red, bleeding into the heavens. Yesterday, the forecast had been that today would have come with rain, and the games would have to be suspended in the event of a flood. But this morning had nothing but a clear blue sky, and Kageyama knows Hinata had something to do with it. 

“I will,” Hinata says back, determined and firm, and the tears do nothing to betray him. He is more human than anyone, just trying to meet expectations and prove he is more than a hundred and sixty-two centimeters. Someone who could probably bend lightning at will, just trying to show that there is something worthwhile even under all the luster. 

With that, Kageyama turns to leave, but he does not miss the way Hinata’s eyes flash with a newfound drive, just as lightning strikes the ground miles away from them. 

* * *

Kageyama comes to Karasuno, and it is there that he learns to carry his throne.

Hinata Shouyou is there, too, and a part of Kageyama knew that they would end up this way—rivals to partners, enemies to unlikely friends. Because as much as Hinata carries the sun in his chest, he is still as human as the rest of them. The way the wind blows around him doesn’t change who he is, and Kageyama finds himself wanting to stay by his side. He wants to keep pace with this boy of lightning and thunder, to reach the top of the world together. 

* * *

“I can control the weather sometimes, you know.”

“Still doesn’t explain why you’re so short.”

“Bakageyama! It doesn’t have to do anything with that!”

“Then what do you mean, dumbass?”

“I don’t know. Sometimes, when I pray for sunshine, the rain just stops and the sky comes out. Or if I ask for rain, it just starts pouring even if the forecast said it would be sunny all day.”

“You just ask for it?”

“Yeah. But sometimes I think it changes depending on what I’m feeling. I can’t control it much when it’s like that.” A pause. “Hey, Kageyama.”

“What?”

“Do you want to see the sun?”

* * *

_I don’t need the sun, _Kageyama thinks to himself, but he doesn’t let the words escape him. _You’re already here, aren’t you?_

* * *

“Let me show you something,” Hinata says to him, and Kageyama has half a mind to argue before he decides against it. They’re on their way to morning practice, and it’s drizzling as Kageyama holds an umbrella up for both of them. Hinata diverges from their original path and turns to the left, standing before a staircase on the side of a building. “To the roof,” he says as an explanation, and his fingers wrap around Kageyama’s wrist to keep him from leaving. Hinata’s skin is warm despite the cold. 

“What is it?” Kageyama asks, as they make their way to the second floor, then the third. They keep on climbing. “Whatever it is better not make us late to practice.”

“It won’t,” Hinata assures him. “Come on, we’re almost there.” He tugs on Kageyama’s hand a little harder, and the metal staircase creaks under the weight of their shoes. 

They make it to the roof, and that’s when Kageyama notices that something is different. There’s a small shrine by the corner, looking slightly abandoned if not for the gifts placed at the sides. It almost looks ancient. But it’s not the oddest thing there—right where the shrine is, the rain stops and the sun shines. Like a sunbeam is forever cast down on it, protecting it from the rain. 

“I crossed the shrine once,” Hinata says to Kageyama, and his eyes are bright and warm. “I was praying really hard to see the sun again. And when I did, it was like the raindrops stopped mid-air. And then there was a really strong wind, and _gwah, _it was like I was flying! I was in the air, Kageyama, and I could see everything! It was like _magic, _I swear! And I don’t—I don’t remember how I got back down, but when I woke up, I was lying right over there, under the gate.”

Hinata pauses for a moment, taking a deep breath. “And ever since, I could do this.”

Before Kageyama can say anything, Hinata closes his eyes and bows his head. It’s like how he was on the day Kageyama first saw him—determined, but a little unsteady. It takes a moment, but in a split second, the rain stops, droplets in the air. The wind blows past them, almost like a call to follow, and Kageyama wants to get swept up in the breeze. Before them, the horizon splits into two—the sun in the middle, clearing the darkness, and turning the sky light with a thousand colors. The clouds move to give way, and Kageyama thinks about how vast the sky is, how much of it there is and how much remains unknown. 

He looks at Hinata, watches the light dance on his face and the happiness of his grin, and it is then that he realizes that Hinata Shouyou may not be a god, but he is much more than that too. 

The sky clears up, and Kageyama smiles at the view. He feels warm inside, much more lighter. He’s not sure if it’s because of the sunshine or if it’s because Hinata is standing next to him.

“I think I could really help people with it,” Hinata tells him when they’re walking to school. “Maybe some sort of part-time job? Like, take requests for what kind of weather people want. Waking up to a blue sky makes people happy, you know?”

Kageyama hums in thought. “That’s stupid,” he says, “but I think it would work.”

“Really?” Hinata asks, eyes widening in excitement. He holds a fist to his chest before raising it up to the sky. “Then I’ll do it! Part-time sunshine boy at your service! Kageyama, you can be my business partner!”

“Your what?” he asks. “Why the hell would I do that?”

Hinata rolls his eyes. “Because,” he says, and the tone of his voice entails that the reason is supposed to be obvious, but Kageyama can’t seem to find it. “You’re already my partner in volleyball, so wouldn’t it make sense that you’re my partner in everything else too?”

Kageyama feels his ears warm at that; Hinata’s always had such an easy way about being blunt about things, like speaking words from the heart were simpler than anything else. “Dumbass,” he mutters, but he’s nodding along anyway. “Yeah, okay, I’ll be your business partner. Maybe I’ll be even better than you.”

Hinata gasps. “You can’t be better than me! I’m the one who can control the weather!”

“Well, maybe I can learn!” he retorts. “All I have to do is cross that shrine, don’t I?”

“You don’t know that!” Hinata says, and there’s an almost panicked expression on his face. “Who knows what could happen?”

“Whatever,” Kageyama says, but he holds his head up high still. “But I’m still gonna be better than you.”

“Yeah, well, good luck with settling for second best,” Hinata says with a smirk, crossing his arms. It’s strangely endearing, Kageyama thinks, and he hates the way his heart skips a beat at it. 

“Dumbass,” he mutters, and he settles for ruffling Hinata’s hair. 

“We can start tomorrow!” Hinata exclaims. “I’ll ask Yachi to help me set up a poster and an ad online so people know about it! _Pwahhh, _Kageyama, this is gonna be so fun!”

Kageyama nods. _Fun, _he repeats, and his heart thrums with the anticipation of it. He decides then that Hinata Shouyou is a hurricane in himself, and to learn how to love the storm is a lot easier than he thought it would be. 

* * *

“Once more!” Hinata calls out, and his voice carries through even past the heavy rainfall beyond the gym walls. Kageyama sets the ball, the perfect trajectory for a parabolic arc, and it matches with Hinata’s tempo, and the slap rings out loudly across the echoing gym. 

Thunder rumbles outside. Kageyama knows this means Hinata still isn’t satisfied. 

He waits until Hinata is back into position before tossing the ball again, eyes watching the middle blocker as he jumps up, even higher than earlier, and swinging with all his might. The effect is enough to shake the ground. 

Lightning flashes. Kageyama tosses the ball again. Again and again and again, until Hinata stops calling for it. The rain doesn’t cease. 

Eventually, even Hinata runs out of breath, and he sits by the side, taking a large gulp of water from his bottle. Kageyama settles it next to him, throwing a towel over his neck and wiping his face. They’re the only ones in the gym today, the only ones to keep going despite the storm raging outside. 

Kageyama listens to the way the rain falls, a million droplets falling out of sync from the sky, an unfixed rhythm to the way they hit the ground. A weathered sky, gray-filled past the low-hanging trees, the wind singing a hollow tune. At the rate it’s going, he might not even make it back home.

“Did you really have to make it rain this hard?” Kageyama asks, half a complaint and half in exasperation, nearly accusing but not quite. Hinata had once told him that he can’t really control it that well, that sometimes the weather will get the best of him. Kageyama knows it’s not entirely his fault. 

“I know, I know,” Hinata says, looking the slightest bit apologetic. “I know you told me not to make it rain so much because people won’t be prepared for it, but it’s not like I can help it all the time.”

“But you can make it sunny, can’t you?” Kageyama says, raising an eyebrow. “At least just enough for both of us to get home.”

Hinata hums thoughtfully. “Maybe.”

“Maybe?” 

“I don’t know, okay?” Hinata says. “I don’t even know why it’s raining. I don’t feel sad or anything. Okaa-san said I used to make it rain on the days when I didn’t want to go to school, but that wouldn’t make any sense since we’re _at school already, _but I don’t exactly want to go home either, so maybe—_oh.”_

“What?” Kageyama asks. “Did you figure it out?”

Hinata looks away, and even under the dim lighting, Kageyama can see the way pink dusts his cheeks. He pulls his knees to his chest and covers his face behind his arms.

“I think so, yes,” he answers quietly. Thunder rumbles overhead. 

“And?”

“You won’t like it,” Hinata tells him, voice still small. “So I think it might be for the best that you don’t know.”

“But I want to know, dumbass,” Kageyama says insistently. Then, he tries for something softer, something kinder, “Because you’re my—friend.” He winces at how awkward that word feels coming from his mouth, but Hinata doesn’t seem to notice, instead peeking out from behind his arms to look at Kageyama.

“You promise you won’t get mad?” 

“Yeah, idiot,” Kageyama says. 

“Okay,” Hinata says, and he lets out a puff of breath. He still avoids Kageyama’s eyes, but he puts his arms back down, the color in his cheeks spreading. “I think that maybe—you know how I said that it rains when I don’t want to go to school? It might be because, well,” his words come out softer, in a rush, “maybe I don’t want to go home.”

Kageyama tilts his head to the side. That wasn’t so bad. Why is Hinata so embarrassed? “Why don’t you want to go home?”

Hinata blushes for real this time, and he turns away, keeping his gaze on the floor. “Because you’re here,” he mumbles, almost caught in the sound of the rain, so soft that Kageyama almost misses it.

“Oh,” he says, a little dumbfounded. _Because you’re here _replays in his mind in a loop, and he doesn’t dare let himself think of the implications of it. _Because you’re here, and so am I. Because we’re here together._

“You promised you wouldn’t get mad,” Hinata says, worry around the edges, and his hands station themselves on the ground, as if he’s preparing to run away.

“I’m not mad,” Kageyama replies, wondering if the warmth in his cheeks gives him away. It probably does. “I’m—” he stops himself, unsure of what to say. What is there to say in moments like these, when heart strings have come to connect in the whirlwind of storms? If there’s a proper etiquette for things like these, then Kageyama was never told of it. 

He breathes, careful and slow. He tries to settle his heartbeats. “I don’t really want to go home, either,” he says, and Kageyama is relieved at the way Hinata’s face lights up, his face splitting into a giant smile. Lightning crackles again, but Kageyama isn’t afraid anymore. “But let the rain pass eventually, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Hinata says, picking himself back up. He grabs one of the balls and throws it to Kageyama. “Toss to me?” He holds out his hand. 

Kageyama takes it, and pushes himself up. “You better not miss.”

Hinata smiles—real and bright—and in that moment Kageyama knows that he is completely, utterly screwed. “Never,” he says, sure and proud. There’s that look in his eyes, the one he gets when he’s filled with reckless abandon to chase after what he wants, when it’s as though he is an unstoppable force. Kageyama thinks it makes Hinata look beautiful. 

With that realization, he feels like he’s been struck by lightning. 

* * *

Their first job comes in October, a call from a nervous-looking man who wants the sun to be up in the sky when he proposes to his lover. He thanks them profusely, bowing his head even though they haven’t done anything yet. Hinata just smiles and assures the man with a thumbs up that he has nothing to worry about. 

They’re at a pier overlooking the sea, and Hinata stands by the railing, staring at the sun on the horizon. His little sister had insisted on coming, and she stands next to him now, tugging at his shirt as she waits for him to do his work. 

Kageyama places himself on Hinata’s other side, standing about awkwardly as he watches Hinata press his hands together and close his eyes for a prayer. He has them squeezed shut tightly, muttering under his breath. 

For a minute, nothing happens.

“Are you sure you’re doing it right?” Kageyama whispers, and Natsu looks up at him and shrugs.

“This is what I usually do,” Hinata hisses. “Now shush. I’m trying to concentrate.”

Natsu holds up the _teru teru bozu _she had brought along a little higher, the weather ghost charm hanging in the air between Hinata and the sea. Kageyama looks to the sky and shifts his hold on the umbrella over Hinata and Natsu. The sky is still dark, and the rain is still coming. 

And then—

The sky splits, and the sun shines through. It is the first bit of sunshine Miyagi has seen in three days, and they all look up to greet the heavens. 

_“Wahhh,_” Natsu says in awe, and the way her eyes brighten reminds him of the way Hinata’s do sometimes—the striking resemblance still puts him off sometimes. “So pretty, nii-chan!”

Kageyama looks at the sunshine boy, and he watches as a smile grows on Hinata’s face. 

He turns to Kageyama. “It worked!” he exclaims, looking surprised and pleased with himself, jumping. “It worked! It worked, it worked!”

Kageyama smiles. “Of course it did, dumbass, what did you expect?”

“It worked!” Hinata yells, picking up his sister and spinning her around. She squeals with laughter, and both the siblings look like they have fire for hair with the way the light catches them. They look otherworldly, and Kageyama thinks it’s not too off for a description. 

“See! I told you I could do it!” Hinata says, and he holds his arms up, palms open and wide for a high five. Kageyama returns it, feeling the sting on his skin, but finding no pain in it. 

“Yeah, yeah,” Kageyama says, as Natsu tugs on his shirt and holds her arms up towards him. In one swift movement, he picks her up and carries her, and she squishes his cheeks. 

“Tobio-chan did great too!” Natsu says, grinning, and Kageyama blushes at the compliment. He doesn’t really want to argue that he didn’t actually_do anything, _but the thought is nice. “But I did the best!” She laughs, and the way her eyes sparkle reminds him of the glittering of the sea, light and easy when the dawn breaks. 

“Thank you for your work!” the man says, bowing once more. He pays them with two hundred yen, and they wish him luck on his proposal. 

“We’re sure to get some more customers now!” Hinata says. “Sunshine boy, his sister, and best friend, coming to bring the sun to everyone!”

His phone beeps in his pocket, and with one hand still holding Natsu, he picks it out of his pocket. True to Hinata’s word, it’s a notification for someone who wants clear skies tomorrow for a baseball game. He tells Hinata this, and the boy just flashes him a thumbs up. 

“People are gonna come to us like _pow pow pow_, and they’re all gonna be super amazed! They’ll all be like _oooooOooH _and _wahhhh _when they see what we can do! And then everyone’s gonna be happy!” Hinata says, and Natsu cheers at his words. “We should go celebrate! Our first successful job!”

“Pork buns! Pork buns! Pork buns!” Natsu chants, throwing her arms in the air, and Kageyama shakes his head in amusement—like brother, like sister, he supposes. “Can we buy some pork buns?”

“Sure,” Kageyama says, and Hinata lets out a loud whoop. He settles Natsu back down on the ground, and she starts running ahead, her laughter heard in the clouds. 

“We’re off to a great start, don’t you think?” Hinata asks as they walk along. Their fingers brush, once, twice, and Kageyama’s fingers twitch to be held. 

“Yeah,” he answers, trying to keep his voice steady. There’s something there, he knows, something like dragons in his heart, flying around with no reprieve. He tries to ask them to settle, to _calm the hell down, _because Hinata is the first friend he’s made in a really long time and he really doesn’t want to screw that up. “You did—really good, by the way. The sky, it’s really nice.”

“You think so?” Hinata says, his face lighting up. There is the faintest trace of pink on his skin, trailing after his freckles. 

“Yeah,” Kageyama answers, genuine and soft. But as much the sky really is beautiful, he thinks he’d rather look at the view right next to him. 

Hinata beams up at him, and with one more brush of their fingers, he decides to close the distance and takes Kageyama’s hand. Palms coming together, Hinata swings their hands in the space between them, looking even brighter than the sky above. 

Kageyama feels the dragons in his stomach breathe fire, threatening to escape. _Keep calm, _he tells himself, _he’s just holding your hand. _And this is all so new for him, for a boy only ever tried to chase the light from a distance, all of the illumination feels a bit overwhelming. 

But it’s…good. It’s a good kind of overwhelming. 

So he squeezes Hinata’s hand, three times to make sure he’s still there—three times to say something he’s not sure he’ll ever get the courage to say out loud. Still, Kageyama wonders if Hinata hears it. 

(He does.)

They do more jobs like that every few days. A couple of children ask for sun so they can play outside, an old woman asks for rain for her plants, a boy asks for a clear day for a moment to confess. They come one after the other—small favors to a handful of requests. They get paid a decent amount, and by the end of a month, they’ve earned a few thousand yen. Kageyama resigns himself to the fact that Hinata was right, after all—it _is _fun. It’s nice to walk along the streets with Hinata and Natsu sometimes, to watch the sky change under Hinata’s fingertips. Good to feel the rain on his skin after a long day, or to wake up in the morning with a mission to bring the sun out. It’s miraculous almost, an explosion in a standstill. Miyagi, holding its breath for a new day. 

And every day without fail, Hinata will take Kageyama’s hand on the way home, swinging them together, falling in sync with the rhythm of their heartbeats. 

* * *

And on days like those, as he walks beside Hinata, Kageyama thinks of the way people fall in love with hurricanes, unafraid to walk right through them.

He understands it now. He’d go through the eye of a storm a million times over if it means standing with Hinata at the end of it all. 

* * *

Hinata is a sunshine boy. 

He goes as the legends tell it—every few hundred years, people are born with the weather in their veins, meant to control the way the wind blows. They tell the sky to cry when the crops need to be watered, and they ask the sun to shine on the days when people need it the most. They call for snow in the winter, ask for wind on hotter days. They preserve a balance, trying to control something once seen as unchangeable. 

A prayer, a wish, and they can make the rain go away. Most people tend to ask for sunshine—for events, for a good day, for happiness. Sunny days can go a long way, can lift spirits, and can make people feel better and find hope in the way the sun rises. Kageyama knows he isn’t the exception. 

But there are, and always have been, consequences to such things. If the weather is changed too much, if more and more sunshine is asked for and taken up, then there will be a price to pay for dreaming. These people, they will disappear. The wind will sweep them up and away into the clouds, settle them into the vastness of an entire world above them. A sacrifice, in return for a bit of sunshine. 

When Kageyama learns this, it is through the quiet tone of Hinata’s voice, somber and off at the edges, too much unlike the way he usually speaks. Hinata tells him what he’s learned from a book of myths he’s stumbled upon in the library, eyes cast downward and fingers fumbling together. Hinata’s shaking, Kageyama realizes, but he doesn’t know what to say. 

“Kageyama, there’s something I have to show you,” Hinata says, sounding strange and afraid. Kageyama nods, and swallows a million worries. 

Hinata pulls up the sleeve of his sweater, and Kageyama’s eyes widen at the sight of it. Because in the bit of skin where a part of his forearm should be, there is nothing but a translucent patch of water. Like a hole in his skin, fluid in its movements. 

Hinata is fading away, he realizes. 

He’s beginning to fade away, just like the story said. 

“Shouyou,” Kageyama breathes out, and Hinata pulls his sleeve back down. “What are you—why—we have to stop—”

“I know,” Hinata says, and his mouth is pressed in a thin line, looking grim. It doesn’t suit him the way a smile does, like the earth catching the sun. “But can we—before we stop, I want to do one last job. Just one more. A big one. I don’t care what it is, I just—let me do it one more time.”

And Kageyama doesn’t understand. Why would Hinata want to risk it even further? He’s _fading away—_

“I want to be able to help people like that one more time,” Hinata tells him, and Kageyama is reminded of the day Hinata told him of his idea of the job the first time around, how _waking up to a blue sky makes people happy, _and how he wanted to be able to let people feel that. “Just one more, I promise.”

Kageyama bites his lip. “Are you sure?”

Hinata nods, defiant. “Yes.”

After a moment, Kageyama nods. He’s never been too good at saying no to Hinata in the first place. 

“There’s supposed to be a fireworks show tomorrow,” Kageyama says, and he leans his back against the wall, the bed creaking under his weight. “But the forecast says it’s going to rain all day. A lot of people have been waiting for the show, so there’s been a lot of requests to make it sunny tomorrow. The company hosting it even sent one in, I think.”

Hinata closes his eyes and nods his head. “Okay. We can do that one.”

“You’re really sure about this?” asks Kageyama again. 

“Yeah,” Hinata says. “Just once more.”

At this, Kageyama tugs one of Hinata’s hands closer to his, fitting his fingers in between the spaces of Hinata’s hand. Heartbeats come to connect, invincible in the way they stay together. 

Lightning flashes in the sky. Kageyama holds his breath. 

_Once more, _he thinks to himself again. He just hopes Hinata keeps his promise. 

* * *

Kageyama Tobio has always loved the rain, long before Hinata Shouyou even came into his life. He likes the way it falls unpatterned on his skin, coming from the heavens. He likes the way streets look after raining, puddles on the ground and cracked concrete, put back together over and over again. When the sky turns darker, and it feels like he’s living in a whole new world—in between day and night, a grayness to the stratosphere. And whenever the rain comes to an end, it always promises a return. 

It’s only that recently he’s come to love the boy who can control it. 

The fireworks show begins exactly when it was supposed to, and he and Hinata are allowed to stay on a rooftop to watch—_the best seats in the house, _the company manager had said with a crooked grin and a wink, a little too knowing for Kageyama’s taste. So now they sit by the edge, side by side, as the lights erupt in the sky, the immolation of a thousand colors, all bleeding together. 

Huge, orange fireworks burst into the sky, and Kageyama is reminded of the uniforms they wear. Orange against black, _9 and 10, _a vow to reach the top of the world. A king and his equals, a decoy and his wings. It reminds him of long afternoons, with bruises on his arms and a sense of determination to get his serves right. There are afternoon walks on the way to the convenience store, the sun setting behind them, lazy Sundays playing volleyball when they should be studying. 

But most of all, it reminds him of Hinata. 

Hinata, with his fiery orange hair, almost as bright as the sun, and even more so when he smiles. Hinata Shouyou, who built himself from the ground up, who breathes in every day though it is his last. Hinata, who thinks it’s funny when Kageyama’s mad but always seems to be able to make it better. Hinata, who somehow managed to become Kageyama’s best friend despite their rough beginning, who continues to stay by his side when it really matters. 

Hinata, who is right next to him, and all at once the fireworks seem to pale in comparison. 

“I really love this job,” Hinata says, eyes to the sky. He flashes Kageyama a quick smile, honest and raw, hugging his legs to his chest. “Seeing people happy—it’s a warm feeling, you know?”

_I know, _Kageyama thinks. _I get it every time I see you._

Instead, he says, “Yeah,” wringing his hands together on his lap. For a brief moment, Kageyama thinks about what it might be like to confess. It’s probably romantic enough, but he’s not sure of what Hinata’s preferences are for things like these. He thinks about the way the words might get stuck in his throat before tumbling out in rhythmic syllables, _I like you _at the tip of his tongue at all given moments. He thinks of how his heart will beat in his chest faster than it’s ever done before, and the dragons in his stomach might finally find a way to escape. He thinks of what Hinata will look like or what he will say. Will he think any different of Kageyama once he knows the truth? 

Kageyama’s never confessed to anyone before. And that in itself is a dangerous thought. 

And so he shakes his head and decides that now isn’t the right time. Even with the fireworks, it doesn’t feel too right—or maybe he’s just throwing away a perfectly good chance, he’s not sure. Because it doesn’t seem like he should; it feels wrong to take advantage of Hinata’s moment, his last job as a sunshine boy, and ruin it by spilling his feelings all over the place. Kageyama can’t take this away from him.

So he keeps his eyes towards the light show, and bites his tongue before he can let anything loose. 

“Thank you for doing this with me,” Hinata says after a big explosion, when the sky has burst into an array of green and blue and pink. He smiles at Kageyama, and the colors brighten his face, dancing on his skin. “You didn’t have to, but you made it a lot better.”

Kageyama nods. “It was nice,” he says, and he wishes he could find better words than this. A poverty of words, and he tries to do better despite it. “I liked doing this with you, too.”

Hinata leans his head against Kageyama’s shoulder, just as the last fireworks of the night go off. A grand explosion—every color he could possibly think of bursts in the sky, and it lights up Miyagi for a good moment. For a while, it’s as though they don’t need the stars because they are bright enough for even the heavens to see, for the lost to find their way home. Hinata gasps at the sight, his hair tickling Kageyama’s cheek as he lets out soft _ooooooh_’s and _ahhhh_’s. Eventually, the lights trickle back down, dissolving into the sky. The stars take their rightful place back, but the people do not forget. 

Hinata and Kageyama sit together even long after the show is finished. Kageyama thinks about the boy next to him, and Hinata looks at the sky. There is a calmness between them, a lull they don’t want to disrupt. These moments are special too; they come so few and so rare that sometimes they just need to be lived in. 

“Hey, Kageyama,” Hinata says, voice soft, tittered at the edges. “Can you promise me something?”

A beat, then he says, “Okay.”

“I know it’s selfish to ask,” Hinata tells him, and he moves his head from Kageyama’s shoulder, turning to look at the other boy properly. “But can you—can you stay with me? For as long as you can? I know I can be annoying sometimes, and I probably drive you crazy, and I’m loud and I talk too much. I know this sounds stupid, and I don’t know why I’m even asking you this because it’s such a strange thing to ask for, and I know I can be too much sometimes but I—”

“Okay,” Kageyama agrees, and he smiles a little. 

“What?” asks Hinata. “Really?”

“If it means that much to you,” Kageyama says, “I’ll stay.” Hinata’s smile is brighter than any of the fireworks they have seen. “But you have to promise to stay with me too.”

_(Hinata, fading away.)_

Hinata nods. He holds up his pinky, and Kageyama wraps his own finger around Hinata’s. “I promise.” 

“I promise,” Kageyama repeats after him. 

Hinata moves to lay his head against Kageyama’s shoulder again, but this time their pinkies remain intertwined, connecting them under the dark sky. Kageyama knows making that promise had been easy—he’d stay this way forever if he could. It’s a bit scary how much he’d do for Hinata Shouyou, but Kageyama just takes a deep breath. 

He looks at the sky, and begins counting the stars. _Count your blessings, _people used to say. And with Hinata next to him, for a foolish moment, Kageyama thinks he’s been given an infinity’s worth of them. 

* * *

Hinata Shouyou is not a god. 

He is a bright smile and a fire with the promise of burning. He is the sting in the palm after a strong spike, a well-timed run-up to touch the sky. He is bike rides on the way to school and back, an old faded jacket, the sunflowers in the field, and the explosion of a million stars. He is the wind blowing, the storm brewing, and the sun rising. 

Hinata is the way people push on even when they’re tired, the reckless determination to keep going, _all setbacks be damned. _He is immolation condensed in the body of a teenage boy, a catastrophe in the making. He is a wounded heart patched back together, a crown on his head, a broken wing. He is late night crammed homework, phone calls at three in the morning, goodbyes that stretch into a million lifetimes. He is all the defied expectations, all the renounced insults. He is how people catch sunbeams in their hands, the first drop of rainfall after dry days. 

He is a dreamer, freckles spread on cheeks and on the back of hands. He is the constellations when the moon is brightest, the summer solstice in June. He is the cherry blossoms blooming a little too early, the smell of salonpas after a long game. He is midnight kitchen runs, sleep-overs to fend away the shadows. A hand to hold, a shoulder to cry on, a person to find comfort in. He is the sun, coming to bring the day. 

But most of all, he is a promise. 

Hinata Shouyou is not a god. He is Kageyama’s best friend, and Kageyama is terrified of losing him. 

Because it feels like he was chasing after the light, and at the end of it he’d found Hinata. 

Hinata is quiet next to him, warm against his side as they lay in Kageyama’s bed. He’d come over when the rain was getting too hard on their way home from practice since Kageyama lived nearer _(“It’s not me doing this, I swear!”) _and it was getting late, so Hinata had decided it would be better to stay the night. 

Slowly, Hinata sits up on the bed, and Kageyama follows, looking at him. 

“I need to show you something,” Hinata says, and Kageyama holds his breath. His voice sounds scared, and layered with something Kageyama can’t quite describe. He shuts his eyes for a moment before opening them again and letting out a deep breath. 

Hinata takes off his shirt, and Kageyama’s stomach drops to the floor. He gasps at the sight, swallowing thickly. So much of Hinata is already beginning to fade away, spreading through his chest and around his stomach. Hinata’s been wearing jackets and long-sleeved shirts, and Kageyama had thought it was only to fend off the coming of winter, but it had been to hide the way patches of skin on his arms are disappearing. Kageyama stares at Hinata, at the places where he should be but isn’t, where the pieces of him have already left. 

Hinata tries for a teasing, “What are you looking at, huh, Kageyama?” but it falls flat in the quiet. 

“I’m looking at you,” Kageyama says, and Hinata’s cheeks turn pink. He puts his shirt back on, and brings his hands together. 

“Was it the fireworks show?” asks Kageyama after a while. “Did it take too much? I knew we shouldn’t have done it—”

“It’s not,” Hinata says, his voice small. “I was fine after the show. I think—it’s just been growing, these last few days. I don’t regret the fireworks, but what if it keeps happening even if I’m not doing anything? I don’t understand—what am I supposed to—” Tears run down his cheeks now, as Hinata holds back a choked sob. _“Tobio,” _he says, and his voice is on the brink of breaking, _“I’m scared.” _

Kageyama doesn’t say anything, and his comes closer to wrap his arms around him. 

“I don’t want—to disappear,” he says through his sniffles, voice beginning to get hoarse. “I want to keep going—to Nationals, and I want to see the world. And I can’t leave Natsu, and there’s so much more I want to do. I still haven’t even seen the Tokyo Tower yet, and I want—I still want to reach the top of the world with you. I don’t want—I’m not ready to _leave.”_

“You’re not going anywhere,” Kageyama says, and god, how he wishes he could be sure. He wishes he could be certain, to be able to tell Hinata that everything would be okay without any doubts. “You promised, remember? You promised to stay.” Kageyama holds him a little tighter. “And do you really think I’d let you go that easily? I won’t let anything happen to you. As long as I’m here—”

“I’m invincible,” Hinata finishes, but his eyes are still watery. He wipes his face, nose and cheeks red. “Kageyama, can you promise me one more thing?” 

This time he does not hesitate. “Anything.”

“If I do—if I do disappear,” he says, hiccuping. “Take care of Natsu for me, okay? She needs a big brother.”

Kageyama nods. “Okay.”

Hinata smiles, much fainter than his usual ones, but still genuine enough that it warms Kageyama’s heart. 

He is in love with this boy. 

Kageyama reaches over his bed to dig into his bag, where he takes out two small things from its pockets. He holds them nervously in his hands, covering them from view, and Hinata looks at him curiously. 

“Hold out your hand,” Kageyama tells him. 

Hinata eyes him warily. “It’s not a bug, is it? Or something gross, like a dead mouse?”

“No, dumbass,” Kageyama says, rolling his eyes, and he curses himself for how fond he feels. “It’s a gift. Do you want it or not?”

“I want it!” Hinata says, and he wipes at his face again, the blotchiness on his skin still present. He holds out his hand to Kageyama.

Slowly, Kageyama reveals what was in his hands. There are two bracelets, one blue and one orange, each tied together with cords. It hadn’t taken Kageyama too long to make it, but it took him many tries to get it right. He slips the blue one around Hinata’s wrist, and puts the orange one on his own hand. 

“Uh, we match,” Kageyama says sheepishly, holding up his hand. Hinata looks in awe of his, tracing the cord with his finger. “You don’t have to wear it if you don’t want to, I just thought it’d be nice—”

“Why wouldn’t I want to?” Hinata asks. “It’s you.”

Kageyama’s eyes widen in surprise. “Oh.”

“I love it!” he says, and as quick as lightning, he presses a kiss against Kageyama’s cheek. “Thank you.”

His cheeks are warm. “I’m glad you like it.”

They settle back into the bed, lying down side by side. Hinata’s hand finds his under the covers, and Kageyama listens to the way he breathes, a comfort, _an assurance _that he’s still there. He stares at the glow-in-the-dark stars stuck on the ceiling. Hinata had given them to him before. 

_(If there are any gods out there, if there is anyone who is listening, please let Hinata keep his promise.) _

“Hey, Kageyama.”

“Yeah?”

“It’s going to keep raining because of me, isn’t it?” Hinata asks. “You’ve noticed it too, haven’t you? The day after the fireworks show, it’s always been raining. It’s only really sunny when I ask for it.”

Kageyama hums. “I guess so.”

“Kageyama.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you want the rain to go away?”

“It would be nice sometimes, I think,” Kageyama says, but he also thinks about how it was never a matter of weathering. It was never about weathering. “I miss playing volleyball outside, or just walking outside without having to bring an umbrella.”

Hinata is quiet for a moment. “Okay,” he says. “Good night.”

“Good night, Hinata.”

* * *

_It would be nice, _he thinks. _But I’d rather be with you._

* * *

When Kageyama wakes up the next morning, Hinata is gone. 

The world is quiet. Too quiet, even, and when Kageyama looks out the window to see the sun is shining in the sky, he knows why. 

Hinata Shouyou is not a god. He is a sacrifice. 

* * *

When Hinata wakes up the next morning, he is in a grassy field with the bluest sky he’s ever seen. 

He tries to pick up a flower, but it falls right through his skin like water, unable to touch or hold. He keeps trying, but nothing ever sticks, and panic builds in his chest. He doesn’t know what’s happening or where he is. 

His bracelet falls right through and disappears beneath the grass—_it doesn’t belong here, _down into the world below. 

He cries. 

* * *

It’s his fault. It’s all his fault. He told Hinata that he wanted the rain gone, and _how did he not understand_, Hinata was right there, and he let him slip through his fingers—

_(I won’t let anything happen to you.)_

Hinata promised to stay, didn’t he? So where was he?

And he had dreamt it happen too. Hinata was standing there, and then he was disappearing, getting lifted into the sky, up and up and up until Kageyama couldn’t see him anymore. Head bowed, eyes closed, hands clasped together in prayer. A final wish. 

He checks every inch of his home just to make sure Hinata hadn’t just gone to the bathroom—but Kageyama has never been much for the lucky sort. He races to the Hinata household, past the flooded streets and the mountain dirt paths. He knows the way to Hinata’s home like it’s on the back of his hand, and his heart is hammering in his chest when he gets there. 

Hinata Natsu is standing outside, and Kageyama knows she understands too. 

“I saw nii-chan in my dream,” she says to him after he picks her up, sniffling into the back of his shirt. “He went up to the sky, but I don’t know if—if he’s coming back, and he promised he’d teach me how to play volleyball today and bake cookies with me—and—and—”

“I know,” Kageyama says, and he holds the little girl a little tighter, offering as much as comfort as he can. She looks at him—brown eyes wide and puffy from crying—and the resemblance hurts too much. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he mumbles, because _it’s all his fault, _and he’s not sure what he’s supposed to do. All that he knows is that he needs to find Hinata, to see him _just one more time_—

Something falls from the sky, and Kageyama’s eyes widen when he sees it. A blue bracelet, on the concrete next to their feet. He picks it up, careful of the way he holds Natsu. 

Hinata. 

“I…I gave this to him,” he says, mouth dry, tears welling into his eyes. _“___I_ gave this to him last night. _He said—he promised he would stay. He_promised. _So why didn’t he? I don’t—I just—” He’s shaking now, and the tears are coming down, and Natsu places her hands on either side of his face. “He said he would _stay.”_

Natsu’s mouth sets into a thin line and she tugs at his arm to be put back on the ground. She points to the sky, just like Hinata used to when he told tall tales of how he would become Karasuno’s ace, and looks at Kageyama with a determination he knows is unparalleled. 

“Then you need to bring him back,” she says, and the world watches this little girl break the ground with her words. “And tell him to come home.”

Kageyama nods, wiping his face with the back of his hand. “That dumbass,” he says, and Natsu smiles just a bit. “Who does he think he is, leaving us like this?”

“He’s always been a bit stupid,” Natsu says. “Bring him home, okay?”

Kageyama breathes in deep. “Okay.”

He takes off running. 

* * *

The shrine. 

The shrine. Hinata must be at the shrine. That’s where all of this started—that’s where all of this will end. Kageyama just needs to get there, and Hinata will be there. He knows it. Hinata will be there. 

(He doesn’t know what he’ll do if Hinata isn’t.)

Kageyama runs, kicks up energy, the wind blowing past him, and he is reminded of they used to race together. He’s getting strange looks, but he doesn’t care. Running with Hinata had always been one of his favorite things to do.

He remembers all the times they had raced the rain, and how sure he had been that they would win. 

It takes him a while to spot the building they’d climbed up, but soon he’s racing through the rickety steps, metal creaking under his feet. Kageyama reaches the roof, breathing coming out in gasps, and he looks ahead. 

The shrine looks the same as it did on that day—small and old, but with all the power of the world held within it. Faded red paint, stone steps, an old sign. Inside, the secret to change the world. 

He walks up to the shrine slowly, clasping his hands together. _I want to see you, _he thinks, as he takes a step. _I want to be with you, _when he crosses the shrine. _I want you, _when he closes his eyes and breathes the wind in. 

There is a sharp intake of wind beneath his feet, and he feels the ground get pulled from under him. It tugs him in all directions, pushing and pulling. When Kageyama opens his eyes, he is no longer on the ground. 

He’s in the sky. 

* * *

It’s blue all around him. He’s so far from the ground, and Kageyama tries to settle himself but the lack of gravity catches him off balance, and it’s absolutely terrifying. Little fish-like droplets of water are floating around him, nipping at his skin, always disappearing the moment he touches them. The wind pulls him in different directions, haphazard motions and choppy timing. When he looks down, he can see the whole of Miyagi below him—the mountains and the buildings, cars and lakes—all of it. And he’s not falling. He’s just suspended in the air, caught by the winds. 

Kageyama looks around him, and to his left there’s—it’s _green. _Instead of the blue of the sky, there is a patch of green above a huge cloud, and Kageyama directs all his energy to get there. It’s…grass, he learns when he’s close enough. 

“Hinata!” he yells, but his voice is lost in the wind. “Hinata! Where are you? Hinata!”

Kageyama gets closer, and he sees something on the grass—a body lying on the ground, a bit of orange. His heart lurches into his throat. _Hinata. _He tries to move a bit faster, trying to angle himself with the way the wind blows. 

“Hinata! Hinata!” he shouts, as loud as he can make it. “Hinata!”

It seems to have caught Hinata’s attention a bit, and the boy is looking around him, standing up. The wind blows through him. 

_“Sh_o_uyou!” _Kageyama yells, and Hinata looks up to find him.

“Tobio!”

“I found you!” He holds out his hand. “Come on!”

Hinata breaks out into a run. The wind is pulling Kageyama farther and farther away from him, but he keeps his arm outstretched as Hinata runs to him. Their fingers touch once before slipping away, and Kageyama tries to reach for him, Hinata tries to move faster. Their hands meet, heart lines connect, and Kageyama pulls himself towards Hinata. 

“Don’t let go!” he says, and he can feel the winds leaving him. They’re falling now, back to the ground. Hinata’s eyes are wide, afraid but determined. “Hinata!”

A strong wind breaks their connection, and Hinata is falling down faster than him. Kageyama sticks out his hand, trying to reach him. 

_Who cares if we don’t see the sunshine again? _

“Kageyama!” Hinata calls out, and their hands meet only to slip away once more. They’re getting closer to the ground now, and Kageyama feels the sting of the pressure against his body. 

“Shouyou!”

Kageyama takes both of Hinata’s hands, holding him tighter this time, swearing not to let go. They’re falling, falling, falling, and Kageyama doesn’t know what happens when they meet the ground, but at least Hinata is here. Hinata is here. 

_I want you more than any blue sky. _

From the sky they fall, hands linked, unstoppable. 

* * *

It’s raining again. 

Kageyama opens his umbrella towards the sky, glancing at the gray world above him. It’s a busy afternoon, and people are off to wherever they need to be. A few trains have been delayed, bus stops coming into traffic due to flooding, and the streets are crowded. Thunder rumbles in the sky and lightning strikes soon after. Kageyama holds his ground this time around, unafraid of the flash. 

It’s June 21st, the summer solstice, and Kageyama thinks about how if he lived in any other lifetime, the sun would be shining. But it isn’t, and maybe it’s a far cry from it. Instead, a summer rain falls on them, either a blessing or a curse, a warning sign from the heavens. Kageyama doesn’t particularly care. He just knows that this is the life he lives in, the one he has come to love. 

He’s chosen this life. He’s chosen this world. He’s chosen Hinata Shouyou. 

He finds Hinata at the street corner, hands together and eyes closed in prayer, facing the sky. Kageyama approaches him once he finishes. The rain doesn’t lighten, and the sky stays the same dark shade it always does. 

“Hey,” Kageyama says. 

Hinata looks at him and smiles—and even after all this time, Kageyama finds a way to be rendered breathless at the sight of it. “Hi,” he says. 

“Ready to go home?” Kageyama asks him, and he holds his umbrella up for the both of them. 

Hinata nods. He looks at the sky one more time before looking back at Kageyama. A goodbye for now, maybe. He takes Kageyama’s hand, a blue bracelet on his wrist to match Kageyama’s orange one, the same way he has done for the past year. He squeezes Kageyama’s hand three times, meaning each one.

“Yeah,” Hinata says. “Let’s go home.”

They’ll be alright. 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! <3


End file.
